Israeli Finance Minister Says Jerusalem Will Always Be Israel's Capital

Says the city will never be part of a Palestinian state

TEL AVIV, Israel, May 20 (UPI) — Jerusalem will always be the capital of Israel, never the capital of a future Palestinian state, Israeli Finance Minister Yair Lapid said.

"Jerusalem is not a place, Jerusalem is an idea. Jerusalem is the capital of the Israeli state," Lapid said in an interview with The New York Times.

An interim Palestinian state should be created in the West Bank, with final borders drawn up in three to five years, Lapid said.

The area of East Jerusalem captured by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War must stay Israeli, he said.